Earth Day

Hello all, I hope you had a lovely weekend and managed to fit in some crafting as I did - the first time in a while I got some bonus time too due to unforeseen circumstances which meant I couldn't do the other stuff planned in - not that I'm complaining!
Today's post is to tell you about the new challenge over at Make My Monday and teamie Joan has picked Earth Day as the theme so we'd like to see your creations with this in mind or on the theme of nature.
I decided to take the Earth theme literally and do some recycling as I can't think of anything more appropriate for Earth Day than that.
Here's what I created and underneath you'll see what I recycled to make it.

I covered a piece of greyboard with some of my vintage music score and then brushed on some white gesso and then applied a little pink and green acrylic paint.
I then cut a panel of the corrugated packaging and brushed on some gesso and green paint for a grungy effect.
I die cut some floral shapes from the tea box with a Marianne die set and glued some of these to the painted corrugated panel and glued this to the music score panel.
I next chose one of the birds from my bargain illustration bird book which I acquired in a charity shop in Margate. This one is a Rock Thrush and I picked him because the colours go well with my project. I cut him out and glued him to the panel.
As a final touch I added a little more pink paint to the free area and stamped on the text from the Dina Wakley Scribbly Birds set with Archival Watering Can ink I added some paper string to the top to make the hanger.

Have a great day and a lovely week.
Fliss xx

Thanks go to Marina for pointing me in the direction of Inkspirational Challenge as it seems my creation might just fit the photo inspiration due to the colours, bird (from the birds eggs) and the kraft packaging.

A Little Happiness

Hello folks, hope you're having a lovely weekend with some sunshine wherever you are. It's lovely and sunny here but rather cold due to very strong winds so at least my washing will dry!
I'm here today to share the first creation in an age which isn't DT stuff as when I saw the current challenge theme at Allsorts, Quick and Easy Does It, I challenged myself to try and do something I find rather difficult so although there was more thinking than the time it took to actually make the card, the stamping from start to finish took only 10 minutes including stamp cleaning - very unusual for me I can tell you!
Here it is and hope you like it:

All of the stamping was done directly on the card blank and I first used the sequin waste stamp (Carabelle Studio Etoiles, Taches et Background) to stamp the dotty design on each side with Mustard Seed Distress ink.
I next stamped on the main image (Artistic Outpost Happiness) with Archival black ink, then followed with the text in the same ink together with the tiny butterfly.
As a finishing touch, I stamped the splats from the Carabelle set with Worn Lipstick Distress ink.

Tada! Done!

Have a lovely Sunday.
Fliss xx

April Showers

Hello all, I'm back from my trip to Kent last week and had a great time with lovely sunny weather. I also managed to acquire some vintage cabinet cards in Broadstairs and a lovely songbird illustration book in a charity shop in Margate, very happy additions to my vintage crafty stash too.
There will be some photos to share as well when I've had a chance to go through what I took and hopefully find some good ones!
We have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday and the theme this week chosen by Marina is April Showers - not something I really want at the moment!

I've chosen to ink up one of my favourite Viva Las Vegastamps for my card as she's such a cute and quirky image. I stamped her on smooth white stamping card and added the sentiment to the side of her. I coloured her with pencils and hand drew a puddle under her feet with a fine black pen, adding a little pencil colour.
I then stencilled the edges of a white square card blank with a Crafters Workshop mini tiny dot stencil using Worn Lipstick and Stormy Sky Distress inks. The ones going down the card remind me of rain drops which I think fit quite well with the image.
I added the main panel to pink and blue mats before adding to the tent fold card to finish.

Have a great day and a good week.
Fliss x

Grunge, Grunge, Grunge!

Hello again, as you can see now from my post title I just loved this challenge theme as I'm a big fan of grunge which is what we'd like to see at That's Crafty Challenge Blog for the next fortnight.
I've made a wall hanging creation as my inspiration and my Julie Nutting Prima doll has come out to play again.

I made the background first by applying vintage music score to a piece of mixed media paper with matte gel and adding torn pieces of book text over the top. I then lightly brushed on some white gesso to bring all the pieces together, following up with Vintage Lace and Lavender Paper Artsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint applied with baby wipes. This gives a soft mottled look which is very grungy in style.

I next stamped on Carabelle Studios Texture Chevrons with Bundled Sage Distress Ink followed by the star border from the Etoiles, Tache et Background Stamp Set with Picked Raspberry Distress ink, stamping once on scra paper to soften the colour a little.

I stamped the Prima doll on smooth stamping card and on book text with Archival Watering Can ink then coloured just the dress on the plain surface with pencils and Picked Raspberry DI. I just coloured the flesh and hair on the book text image then cut out the doll, gluing the coloured dress on top.

I added lace in places (very useful if you have any bubbles in the background as I did despite a good application of gel and using a brayer for smoothing!)

I stamped some Kaisercraft butterflies with the grey ink onto a scrap of gelli plate paper from my bits box (I always save them as you never know when they'll come in useful) and cut them out. I stamped the Dylusions text with the same ink on a scrap of stamping card and coloured it with Picked Raspberry DI after trimming it to a panel.

I finished off by applying some embossing ink to the top corners and the base of the panel and heat embossed it with Stampendous Frantage Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel. I swiped on a little Creative Expressions Gold Gilding Wax and a little more blue paint to pull everything together.

The challenge is open for the next fortnight and the prize for the randomly drawn winner is a £20 voucher for the online shop where you'll be truly spoilt for choice.

Good luck!

Fliss xx

Live The Dream For That's Crafty

Hello all, this is my first post of 2 today which I hope appears as scheduled as I'm currently down in Kent on a few days break.
It's just a quick one to let you know that I have my Friday That's Crafty project over at the blog if you want to pop on over and see how it came about. It's a Carabelle Studio creation again and hope you like it.

As you can see the lovely Helena has popped up again as I just love the rather sultry look she has which is perfect for all sorts of creations.

See you in a bit for my second post today as we have a new challenge at That's Crafty Challenge Blog going live at 8am and I just loved this one!

Fliss xx

Spring Picture Inspiration At Make My Monday

Hello everyone, I hope you've had a lovely Easter and haven't eaten too much chocolate! I've managed to restrain myself so far as we only just finished all the choccies we got at Christmas which I can tell you were rather a lot!
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and the theme this week chosen by Suzi B is a picture to inspire you and you must include a bird or birds in your entry.

A lovely picture I think you'll agree and here's my inspiration:

My background paper was made by applying patches of Distress inks in shades of pink, green and yellow with a Ranger ink applicator tool. I then stamped on the Crafty Individuals flourish with Archival Fern Green ink.
I stamped the Stampendous bird on smooth cartridge paper with brown and green inks and then coloured the image with pencils before trimming to a circle with a Spellbinders die. I added a scalloped, die cut green mat.
The flowers by Crafty Individuals were stamped with brown ink and coloured with pencils and cut out. I stamped the Flonzcraft sentiment with the brown ink and cut it out as the image is a little large as a panel. I inked it pink.

Have a great day and I'll see you next weekend as we're off to Kent for a few days tomorrow so my Friday posts will be scheduled and will hopefully publish when they should!
Fliss xx

Shine For That's Crafty

Hello folks, a bit of an oops here as I totally forgot to schedule my post here to let you know about my weekly project at That's Crafty blog! This was because my yonger daughter came back home from London late yesterday for the Easter weekend and with all the chatting it went straight out of my head!
I have a mixed media creation this week as at the moment I can't get enough of my treasured Tim Holtz Alterations layered butterfly die set and I've made a little wall hanging to share.
Here's a sneak peek and I hope you'll pop on over to see the whole thing too.

A special welcome to Shilpa from me and thank you so much for choosing to follow my art jouney - so lovely to have you on board and will be over to visit very soon.

Have a lovely Easter everyone.

Fliss xx

Flowers at Make My Monday

Hello there, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Ours was a bit noisy as my hubby has now fitted a house alarm so there was a lot of beeping involved in setting it up! The test run was deafening so I think any burglar would run a mile if he set it off!!!
We have a great new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday with the theme of Flowers in celebration of Spring and all the lovely trees in blossom at the moment.
My inspiration is a clean and simple card as I wanted to show off the beautiful image I used for my creation.

I've used a gorgeous pansy corner image which is part of a set of 3 by Aurora Wings. I always think of pansies in the Spring and in fact saw rather a lot on Friday as I visited a client who owns a garden centre and there were tons in one of the greenhouses. They have the most amazing farm shop I've ever seen too!
I printed the image on to smooth cartridge paper and painted it with Aquamarkers before trimmimg it to a square. I stamped the birthday sentiment (Flonzcraft) on with Archival Jet Black ink directly on the paper and then added the panel to a blue mat before sticking it to a cream card blank.

Have a great day and a lovely week.
Fliss xx

Gold and Silver

Hello again, I'm back with my inspiration for our new challenge today over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog and if you haven't guessed from the title we have the rather opulent theme of Gold and Silver, both of which came into my creation.
Apologies in advance for the photos as the light was not good for metallics being too bright when I took them!

I've made a mixed media hanging with my favourite Sissix die by Tim Holtz.

I first made the bit that turned into a frame by stamping Carabelle Studio's Texture Spirales round the edges with Encore Ultimate Metallic Silver ink and then heat embossed it with Frantage Aged Gold Embossing Enamel - I find you need a very sticky embossing ink with the Frantage and the Encore is very good for that (I once found the ink still tacky after 2 weeks!).

Here's a close up so you can see the spiral design which I think looks very like the whorls in wood.

I cut the centre out to produce a frame which I attached to a piece of grey board which I covered with some dry embossed metallic card from my stash which I think goes rather well as it's a sort of mottled siver and gold.

I then die cut the butterfly from kraft card and embossed it with the texture fades folder in the set, rubbed the raised areaswith the silver ink and heat embossed it with Frantage Aged Silver Embossing Enamel and a touch of Detail Silver where the Frantage didn't stick well.

Another close up of the detail on the frame and butterfly.

There's a fab prize of a £20 voucher to the online shop for the randomly drawn lucky winner so do try and enter if you can.

Have a great weekend.
Fliss xx

Far To Fly

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a good week. Mine has been very busy with year end pay runs and tons of P60s but I've nearly finished them all thank goodness!
This is my first post of the day to let you know I have a project to share over at That's Crafty today which I hope you like. Here's a sneak peek.

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual if you'd like to go and visit.

I'll be back in a while with the details of our new challenge which goes up at 8am on the Challenge Blog.

See you later.
Fliss xx

Serene In Green

Hello all, I'm a tad late with my inspiration for our new challenge today at Make My Monday with the theme chosen by teamie Joan which is The Colour Green so we'd like to see your creations with lots of green in.
It's a favourite colour of mine as I love the Distress ink Crushed Olive which I think is the one I like best of all so it had to come into my creation which I've made with the beautiful Aurora Wings Calla Lily Sprite image and I've turned her green to fit in.

I printed the image out on to my favourite paper for colouring in which is thick, smooth cartridge paper and I painted first with Aquamarkers then added more detail with pastel pencils which give such a lovel soft look.
I then trimmed the image to a panel and added mats of deep green and a little orange to tone in with the lily stamens.
I then took a piece of background paper lurking in my stash and altered it with Crushed Olive DI from the original pale sage green which didn't quite go with my image. I wrapped a piece of ribbon round before attaching it to my card blank.
I then painted a butterfly with Aquamarkers and added green dots with a pastel pencil before cutting out. I finished off with the Flonzcraft birthday sentiment (my favourite!) stamped directly on the background paper with Archival Fern Green ink.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
Crafts Galore Encore March Challenge - Anything Goes
Creatalicious Challenges - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking and have a great week.
Fliss xx

Madam Butterfly

Hello folks, I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend like me.
Today's post is about my project today over at That's Crafty blog which is an arch shaped tryptich with an Oriental flavour and some more of my Carabelle Studio stamps which I'm sure you know by now are my favourite images at the moment:)

A rather brightly coloured creation as you can see and you'll find all the details over at the blog if you'd care to pop over and visit - I'd love it if you did too.

There's also a week left to enter our Wing 'n' Things challenge if you haven't yet done so for a fab prize of £20 to spend in the online shop where you're spoilt for choice so good luck if you decide to have a go.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs, Fliss xx

Create A Scene

Hello crafters, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and those of you who are Mums had a great day yesterday. I was lucky enough to have my younger daughter home and she cooked a lovely lunch for us in the form of chicken thighs stuffed with goat's cheese and cranberry sauce wrapped in pancetta then baked in the oven. It was very yummy!
Today see the start of a new challenge at Make My Monday and I picked the theme for the week which is to create A Scenic Card. I've inked up for the first time a Stampscapes set I've had a little while and it's perfect for the challenge although I'm not sure you could say that about my inking!!!

I stamped my scene with the Lakeside Cabin set using Archival Jet Black ink on glossy card. I then added inking with various orange shades of Distress ink but actually found it was harder than it looked to make the ink spread properly - I think I need more practice!
I added a blue mat and then stuck the panel to a white square card blank.

Have a great day and a good week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Wings 'n' Things

Hello again, I'm back with the promised details of today's new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog where for the next fortnight our theme is Wings 'n' Things so anything with wings goes!

I've broken out some Carabelle Studio stamps again for my inspiration which I hope you like.

I made my background with random splats of Distress Stains - I used Shabby Shutters, Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage. As you can see, I went roughly across the horizontal and vertical centre lines.
I next stamped some splats from the Carabelle Studio Etoiles, Taches et Background Stamp Set and Antique Linen Distress ink.
I stamped on some stars from the same set with Worn Lipstick Distress ink. I then added some pieces of Tim Holtz script tissue tape.
I stamped the angel tag (Un Coeur d'Ange stamp set) with Archival Coffee ink, placing the script stamp from the set directly underneath on the block and coloured it with Distress Stains and inks before cutting out.
I added the background paper to a kraft card blank and finished off with the tag embellished at the top with a button.

Hope you can enter as the prize is a £20 voucher to the online shop for the randomly drawn winner.
Good luck!
Fliss xx

Dreamer

Hello everyone and welcome to my first post of the day which is to let you know that I have a project to share over at That's Crafty today which has what I think might be my signature style background using lots of layering.
Here's a sneak peek and you'll have to pop over to the blog to see the whole thing :)

A very sultry looking lady I think you'll agree and you'll find all the details at That's Crafty if you'd like to look. Hope to see you there.

I'll be back in a while with news of our new challenge at That's Crafty Challenge Blog so see you later!

Fliss xx

Going To Town At Make My Monday

Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely weekend and certainly better than mine as I've come down with a sinus infection which I think I must have picked up at a seminar I went to last week where it was very hot and stuffy - sigh!
We have a new challenge for you today over at Make My Monday and the theme chosen by Marina is Building, Town or City which gives a lot of scope for interpretation.
Here's my inspiration which I hope you like.

As you can see, a very simple card as I decided to showcase the lovely row of buildings by Crafty Individuals. I stamped the image with Archival Watering Can ink on smooth card and cut it into a panel.
I then coloured the buildings with various pencils and then inked the sky area with Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar Distress inks. I added it to a kraft card blank and stamped the Dovecraft sentiment with the Archival ink.
As I said, simples!

Have a great day and a lovely week.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Spring Has Sprung at That's Crafty!

Hello everyone and welcome to my post today which is to let you know I have a shabby chic project to share over at That's Crafty made with my beautiful new Liz Borer stamp set by Paper Artsy which I was totally unable to resist as the stamps are so pretty.
Hope you like it.

As you can see it's a little wall hanging plaque and in my current favourite Spring shades of pink and green. All the details are over at the blog as usual.
I'm also almost falling asleep whilst writing this at 8.30pm as I had to attend an Auto Enrolment pension seminar as payroll duties for quite a lot of clients are part of my job and the amount to learn and take in was staggering and somewhat scary!
Roll on the weekend is all I can say!
Hugs,
Fliss xx

We're Going All Girly!

Hello there, I hope that you all had a lovely weekend. It's time for a new challenge at Make My Monday and I have some news about that too as we have a new challenge blog!
This is because we had a lot of trouble with the other one freezing so it was felt that the best idea was to start again, which is what we've done.
We've also got to say goodbye for the moment to our founder Jacqueline as she's going through some rather difficult times and has decided to take a break. I'd like to thank her here and wish her well as we'll miss her a lot.
Our challenge theme for this week is Girly Birthday and here's my inspiration:

I've made my card with some beautiful Aurora Wings images. I made the background paper with a corner rose design which I printed on to smooth cartridge paper and then coloured it with various VersaColor inkpads in shades of pink and green with a toch of yellow.
The beautiful image is called Peace Rose and I printed her on the cartridge paper then coloured her with Aquamarkers. I trimmed the image to a panel and added a deep pink mat.
I inked the edges of the background paper with deep pink ink and assembled the card adding a sentiment stamped directly on the background and some pink pearls.

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Oodles Of Doodles

Hello there, it's time for a new challenge at That's Crafty Challenge Blog and the theme for the next fortnight is something rather close to my heart as those of you who have been following my art journey for a while will remember.
Our theme is Oodles Of Doodles which I'm sure means as little or as much as you like. In my case, my inspiration for you is all doodled as I've got my zentangle hat on again!

Here's the end result and underneath you'll find the doodle that started it off - you'll be able to see that it had a very humble beginning. That's what it's all about as you have to find the courage to put pen to paper and then build on it.

I can't tell you how to do it as it's just one of those things that goes with the flow, so to speak.

To make it I used the following:

Strathmore Artist Tiles - Toned Tan
Sakura Microperm Pens

If you decide to have a go, do let me know and it's definitely good to enter as the prize for the randomly drawn winner is a £20 voucher for the online shop which is chock full of fabulous goodies.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss x

Tag You're It!

Hello folks, I hope you all had a good weekend and managed to fit in some crafting which is more than I did as we had family stuff going on again with birthday celebrations and so on.
It's time for a new challenge at Make My Monday and this week the theme is Tags. I had to cheat a bit with my inspiration as having had no time for crafting, I'm sharing something I made a few years back that I really like and I know I enjoyed creating at the time.

I made my own tag as I wanted an arch shape and I covered it with some decorated paper from my experimental box. It was sprayed deep red and stamped with a square design in black then some doodling with a gold leaf pen was added.
The Gibson girl was stamped with Memories Artprint Brown ink, coloured with pencils and cut out. I then cut a heart shape from card and covered it with pressed pansies.
The tag was assembled with ribbon and a butterfly from my vintage illustration book and the text was stamped with Hero Arts alphabet stamps and inked up with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress inks.
The final touch was a pressed daisy in the lady's hair.

Have a great day.
Fliss xx 

Contemplating With Lynne Perrella

Hello there, I hope you've all had a good week. I'm here today with my weekly project for That's Crafty which is a colourful creation featuring my new and first Lynne Perrella stamps from Paper Artsy.
I was totally unable to resist these gorgeous medieval style beauties done stained glass style and I suspect they'll be making an appearance quite a lot.

You'll find all the details over at the blog and some pics to show how the background came about. Hoping you can visit.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Two Favourite Colours

Hi there, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. It was sunny yesterday and despite it being February our sunlounge was warm enough to eat lunch in and I managed to get washing out on the line too!
I did have time for some crafting too and here's something I created for our new challenge today at Make My Monday. This week Suzi has challenged us to make something with our Two Favourite Colours which I found a little difficult as I try create with as many colours as I can so in the end I picked my favourite 2 shades of Distress inks for inspiration - Crushed Olive and Victorian Velvet, otherwise known as Pink and Green!

I've also used some of my favourite stamps here too.

I made the background paper by painting watercolour paper with dusky rose and olive green acylic paints which I watered down to make a wash. I then stamped on the Stampendous Love Paris image with Archival Olive ink. I then stamped on Hero Arts Old French Writing with VersaMagic Pink Grapefruit ink.
I stamped the Rubber Stampede Tip Your Hat (she looks so French!) image with the olive ink on smooth cartridge paper. I painted the image and also the flowers on the Eiffel Tower image with Aquamarkers in shades of pink and green.
I then stamped the Kaisercraft butterfly on a scrap of pink painted watercolour paper with the olive ink and cut this out.
I assembled the card as you see, adding some pale pink lace trim and a green flower and leaves to embellish.

Have a great day and a good week.
Fliss xx

Be My Valentine

Hello again, I'm back with details of the new challenge today over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog and as it's a certain day tomorrow, our challenge theme is of course Be My Valentine.
I've actually got 2 cards to share as I've had a bit of creative trouble over the last couple of weeks and my second card is the one I actually started first and couldn't finish right away though as soon as I'd sent the other one off to Laura, inspiration struck and I finished it off.
You'll have to let me know what you think as the design is the same but the cards are not quite!

As you see, the design is simple and for this one I used the Carabelle Studio Jeu de Fleches mask with Barn Door Distress ink on smooth white card.
The heart is hand cut from some paper from my stash that I made with Gelatos then stamped with the Stampendous NK Studio Wired stamp set and added dots with a mini dot stencil.
The finishing touch was to stamp on the Kaisercraft sentiment with VersaFine Satin Red ink.

And now for my original card:

As you can see, I used the arrow stencil here too only this one was done with Studio Calico Mr Huey's Mist in a red shade. As the spray was quite wet and ended up all over the stencil, I pressed another piece of card on top and it gave a negative image.
I made the heart shape using the negative printed paper, scribbling on the design with a black Sharpie pen until I was happy with the shape. I then cut it out.
The finishing touch was the same text stamped this time with VersaFine Crimson Red ink.

It's good to enter the challenge (although you do need to be a UK resident) as the prize is a £20 voucher to the online shop and if you haven't yet seen the huge range of goodies available, it's worth a browse.
Good luck!

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

In The Tropics ( Otherwise Known as Wishful Thinking!)

Hi there, welcome to my first post of the day which is to let you know that as it's Friday (yippee!) I have a project to share over at That's Crafty blog which is of a tropical nature and quite bright and flowery as it's still very chilly and I needed some warm colour.

You'll find all the details as always over at the blog and I hope you'll come visit for a fabulous array of inspirational projects with full tutorials.

I'll see you a bit later on today as we have a new challenge for you over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog.

Fliss xx

Stars For That's Crafty

Hello there, I hope you've all had a good week. Mine has been very busy with family stuff as well as work so very little crafting was the result although I did manage a very quick to make card for my That's Crafty project today.
It's very bright as we've still got rather odd weather where I live with a bit of sunshine mixed with lots of cloud, snow, sleet and rain, sometimes all at once!

You'll find all the details over at the blog as always if you'd like to hop on over and visit for some amazing inspiration from the Design Team.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss x

Say It With Hearts And Flowers

Hello there, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. We actually had snow down here in the South although it was of the blink and you'll miss it sort! It was there first thing on Saturday but gone by 11am. It's still very cold though - brrrrr!
Today we have a new challenge for you over at Make My Monday and the theme chosen by Joan is rather romantic as it's Hearts and Flowers.
I've been slightly naughty with my inspiration piece as I had one of those weekends when I had quite a lot to do and I couldn't make anything work on the creative front. Then when searching for something else I came across a card I made a while back when I was a contributor to Craft Stamper magazine and as it was long before I had a blog, and fit the theme rather well, I decided to share it here. Hope you like it!

A bit of purple passion as you can see!
The background paper was made by spraying a piece of inked paper with water and scrunching it then flattening it out and rubbing a little purple ink on the raised areas. the text was then stamped on with VersaMagic Perfect Plumeria.
The Rubber Stampede image was stamped on cream card with VersaFine Imperial Purple ink and the a mat was added. The mat was made by heat embossing the edges of the card with plum and gold embossing powder.
The flower petals are Technique Tuesday and were stamped on cream card with the purple ink and cut out. The flower centre was made with a chipboard circle heat embossed with the plum embossing powder.
The card was assembled as you see, adding some plum grosgrain ribbon and a gold heart charm.

Have a great day and a lovely week.
Fliss xx

Animals at That's Crafty Challenges

Hello again, I'm back with my inspiration for our new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenges and our theme for the next fortnight is Animals (as you probably guessed from the title!).
I've chosen to use my favourite animal stamps which are Crafty Individuals gorgeous Alice Palace quirky bunnies.

I made the background paper first by applying splats of Distress Stains to watercolour paper - I used Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive and Bundled Sage. I spread some of the colour with a finger for a shabby look. I then stamped a flourish design from Crafty Individuals CI-351 all around the edges with Bundled Sage Distress Ink and right on the edge with Pumice Stone. I think it looks a bit like leafy fronds.
I stamped the bunnies with Archival Watering Can ink on a scrap of card I made a while back which was coloured with Spun Sugar Distress Stain and a splash of Pumice Stone. I added colour to the crowns and a little to the bodies with Distress Markers. I then cut them out.
I added the background paper to a kraft card blank and stamped the text from the Stamp-It Australia Time To Dream stamp set with the grey ink  and fixed the bunnies in place with foam tape.

It's good to enter if you can as the prize is a £20 voucher to the online shop where there are oodles of fabulous goodies.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss xx

Totally Tropical

Hi there everyone from an exceedingly tired Fliss. I'm really glad we've almost got January out of the way as it's such a difficult month for those of us in accountancy with HMRC's pesky tax return deadline - we always seem to have clients who leave it right to the last minute - sigh!
This is my first post of two today and this one is to point you in the direction of my project today over at That's Crafty with just a sneak peek this time and you can view the whole creation over at the blog if you'd like to hop over.
It's very bright so it might cheer up anyone who has a dull day.

You'll find the ingredients and recipe at That's Crafty blog as usual and it's worth a look for the inspiration from the Design Team with some gorgeous projects all with full tutorials and unlike magazines, it's totally free!

See you again in a while.
Fliss xx

Bright and Cheery

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and managed to stay warm in the rather chilly weather we're having at the moment.
It's my turn to pick the theme at Make My Monday this week and I picked Bright and Cheery Colours because I felt we could all do with a bit of cheering up in the middle of Winter!
My card is rather eye poppingly bright so you might need your sunglasses - you have been warned!

I started off with a piece of paper from my Gelli plate box which being a lovely warm shade of orange was just what I needed. I stamped it with a flourish design from CI-351 and Ripe Persimmon ink as I wanted quite a subtle effect.
I then stamped the main image together with the butterfly and flowers from Innovative Stamp Creations set on smooth watercolour paper with Archival black ink. I painted the butterfly with Peacock Feathers Distress ink and the flowers with Picked Raspberry then cut them out.
I stamped the sentiment (Flonzcraft) directly on the background paper and then added it to a white square card blank together with the remaining elements.

The Design Team have come up with some fabulous inspiration and I hope can join us.
Have a great week.
Fliss xx

Seeing Stars

Hello all and apologies for my lack of visiting, January is still in full swing with the looming tax return deadline and I can't wait for February to come! We've had internet issues at work too which seem to be due to the current very cold weather - sigh!
I totally forgot to schedule my That's Crafty post too so apologies for that to Laura. My project this week is the card I made for my younger one's birthday last weekend and has been made with my new Carabelle Studio stamps which is a range I'm totally obsessed by at the moment as they're so different.
Hope you like what I created and without further ado here it is!

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual and it's worth a look as it's such a simple card to make even if it might not look like it.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Fliss xx

20th Century Style

Hello all, I'm slightly late with my post for the new challenge at Make My Monday this week as the light went before I could take my photo and then the scanner wouldn't work!
This week the theme chosen by Marina is Twentieth Century Style and for my inspiration I've gone back to the 1960s with a retro scooter which should be familiar to anyone (not me I might add!) who remembers the Mods and Rockers.

The stamp was in a retro set that came with a Get Stamping magazine a while back and I stamped it with Archival Jet Black ink and coloured the image with Promarkers. I trimmed the image to a panel and added a turquois mat.
I found the chevron paper after an internet search as I knew I wanted a chevron pattern and I didn't have anything to fit. I printed it out and cut a strip to fit the card blank.
I added the scooter panel to the card and finished off with the text from the stamp set, stamped directly on the card with the black ink.

Have a great week.
Fliss xx

Tick Tock

Hello again! Today's the day for a new challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge and for the next fortnight our theme is Tick Tock! 
I have to admit to being a bit challenged myself with this one as I didn't have that much to fit the theme so I decided to think outside the box. Hope you like what i came up with.

Do you see what I mean about thinking outside the box :D

I made the background by first spraying with Sherbert and Bookworm Mister Huey mists. I then ironed on some Bondaweb painted with gold metallic paint and then ironed on some snips of green checked chiffon ribbon.
I stamped the text from the Artistic Outpost Happiness set with Archival Fern Green Ink and stamped on part of the butterfly collage image in the corners. I stamped the butterfly part of the same image on cream card with the green ink and cut it out.
I distressed the edges of the background paper with an emery board and attached it to a card blank then added the butterfly to finish.

The challenge is open for the next 2 weeks and the prize for the randomly drawn winner is a £20 voucher for the online shop.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.
Fliss x

A Sequence of Moments

Hi there everyone and hope you're surviving the current gales and nasty wet weather if you have that where you are. Not that I've seen much of it as I've been working full time the last couple of weeks so haven't been outside that much!
I also haven't had very much time for crafting having had to work last weekend to finish off something for my hubby. I just managed to squeeze in a bit of time to make my journal page which is my project today over at That's Crafty as I've made the decision to start a loose leaf art journal the size of my Gelli Plate so that I can hopefully make some quick background with inks and paint.
You might need your sunglasses for this as it's very bright! I thought the dark and dreary weather needed a pick me up!

You'll find the ingredients and the recipe over at the blog as usual if you'd like to see how it cam about.

I'll be back a bit later as we have a new challenge today over at the That's Crafty Challenge which goes live at 8am so will see you soon.

Fliss x

Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep!

Hello there, I hope you've all had a good week and better than mine which has been very tiring as I'm working full time at the moment due to being in accountancy and the tax return deadline is fast looming at the end of the month - sigh!
I have a project today over at That's Crafty which is a bird themed tag which involved some of the leftovers from my blue challenge project. Hope you like it!

You'll find all the details over at the blog as usual if you want to wing your way over and see how it came about.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Fliss xx

New Beginnings At Make My Monday

Hello there, I hope you all had a good weekend and managed to be a bit creative as I did. By the time this pops up I shall be back at work, not something I'm looking forward to having being off since Christmas Eve - groan!
Today sees the first challenge of 2015 over at Make My Monday and Jacqueline has chosen New Beginnings as the theme. I've gone a bit outside the box here inspired by some quotes I saw on Pinterest and I hope you like what I came up with.

I've done a little trick you might find useful here as I didn't have a stamp with the text I wanted to use so I had to get a bit creative.
What I did was to ink up part of an A4 sheet of card using Distress inks applied to a 15cm square acrylic block. I used Crushed Olive, Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky with a tiny swipe on the pink area with Picked Raspberry. I was thinking of the soft glow you sometimes get at the sun starts to rise. I dried it well with a heat gun and then ironed it flat with a dry iron.
I then typed the text in a Word document, checking the placement by first printing out on to plain paper. When I was happy with the positioning, I put my inked card in the manual feeder and printed the text onto it.
I trimmed the card to a panel to fit my square card blank and then stamped the meadow silhouette from a free Indigo Blu set which came with a magazine using Archival Jet Black ink. I stamped a tiny butterfly from the Crafty Individuals Elements Butterflies set with the same ink and coloured it with A Tombow marker.
I added the panel to a cream card blank and there it was - a clean and simple card! I didn't feel it needed anything else and hope you agree.

Have a great day and a good week.
Fliss xx

Some challenges for my card:
Quirky Crafts Challenge - Clean and Simple (hope it's CAS enough ladies)
Natalie and Amy  All Things New
Crafter's Cafe  New
Pink Gem  Something New
Crafty Calendar  What's New

Blue Is The Colour

Hello and welcome to my second post of the day and Happy New Year if you missed the last one.

Today sees the start of our first challenge over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog and for the next fortnight our theme is Blue Is The Colour as you probably guessed from my title :)

Here's my inspiration which is a little bird themed wall hanging creation. Hope you like it. You'll have to excuse the pics too as my camera made some of the blue look decidedly purple!

The first step is to cut some strips of smooth paper or you could use scraps if you have some as I did. As the paper was smooth, it took the inks very well. I used a mix of Color Box Chalk Inks and VersaMagic Chalk Inks. I then added a dot pattern to some with the Crafters Workshop Mini Halftone Borders stencil and stamped the others with the Kaisercraft Script and Diamonds stamps in contrasting darker shades.

I then cut a piece of the smooth paper to 3x5 inches and then applied cobalt and white Brusho Crystals to the 3x5 Gelli Plate which I had sprizted with water. I picked up the colour with the paper, dried it off and stamped on the birds with Archival Cobalt ink. I was just able to stamp 2 birds so look out for the second which will be making an appearance very soon!

I cut a panel of the smooth paper to fit across an A5 piece of thick chipboard and colour with light blue ink. Stamp on diamonds with a slightly darker shade.
Cut pieces of the stamped and stencilled strips to fit at the top and bottom of the chipboard (you'll have some left over for another project) and glue these on. Glue on the central panel and add the cut out bird on the right side. Stamp the bird text with the cobalt ink on the left side.
Add some ribbon to finish.

There's a great prize of a £20 voucher for the online shop for the randomly drawn winner but don't forget to check the rules.
Good luck!
Fliss xx

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my first post of 2015 which is to let you know that I have a project today over at That's Crafty to share.
This time it's a decorative panel with a decidedly retro feel which I hope you like.

You find a list of ingredients together with the recipe (I am called The Stampers Chef after all :D ) over at the blog if you'd like to see how it came about.

I'll be back in a while for my second post of the day as we have the first challenge of the year over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog.
See you soon!
Fliss xx